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Catherine Ann Warfield
Catherine Ann Warfield (June 6, 1816 - 1877) was a 19th-century American poet and novelist. Warfield's debut novel The Household of Bouverie (1860), published anonymously, was very popular. Life Youth and education Warfield was born Catherine Ann Ware in Natchez, Mississippi. She was the oldest daughter of Sarah (Percy) and her 2nd husband Major Nathaniel Ware, who had married in 1814. (Sarah's 1st husband was the older Judge John Ellis, with whom she had a son, Thomas George Ellis, and a daughter, Mary Jane Ellis. He died in 1808.) Sarah Percy was from a prominent Southern family whose members had a vulnerability to mental illness. Catherine and her sister Eleanor were raised primarily in Philadelphia after their mother’s hospitalization there for severe post-partum depression following Eleanor's birth (Sarah was 39 then).Bertram Wyatt-Brown, The House of Percy: Honor, Melancholy and Imagination in a Southern Family, New York & Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1994, 89-103. Sarah never fully recovered. Together with their half-sister Mary Jane Ellis, the Ware sisters attended the French-speaking academy of Mme. Aimee Sigoigne, a refugee from Haiti after its revolution. Marriage and family In January 1833 at the age of 16, Catherine married Robert Elisha Warfield, a son of prominent Lexington, Kentucky, physician and Thoroughbred breeder, Elisha Warfield. The couple settled in his Kentucky home, where they had 6 children together. In the 1830s, Catherine spent her summers in Natchez with her sister and recently relocated mother, who was staying with her son Thomas George Ellis, from her 1st marriage. There was quite a literary community in Natchez, and other women encouraged the sisters' work. Following their mother's death in 1836, the sisters published 2 volumes together under the byline, "The Two Sisters of the West": The Wife of Leon, and other poems (1843) and The Indian Chamber, and other poems (1846). Their father encouraged their writing and had commissioned printers in Cincinnati and New York, respectively, for the volumes.Wyatt-Brown (1994), The House of Percy, 110. The Wife of Leon attracted the attention and praise of William Cullen Bryant. The Indian Chamber was dedicated to Bryant. After their mother's death, the sisters next suffered the death in 1844 of their half-sister Mary Jane Ellis LaRoche (who appeared to have suffered from post-partum depression and lingering mental illness for several years) and later their half-brother Thomas Ellis. After Eleanor died of yellow fever in 1849, Warfield ceased writing for several years, as she was stricken with melancholy.Wyatt-Brown (1994), The House of Percy, 111. Warfield died in 1877. Percy Family writers Together with her sister Eleanor Percy Lee, Warfield was earliest of the published authors in the Percy family. The most noted authors have been William Alexander Percy and Walker Percy of the 20th century. *Sarah Dorsey *Kate Ferguson *Eleanor Percy Lee *Walker Percy *William Alexander Percy Walker Percy's novel Lancelot bears a resemblance to The Household of Bouverie. Despite Walker's disclaimer, both the Percy biographer Bertram Wyatt-Brown and his nephew William Armstrong Percy III believe that he based the novel, so different from his others, on his predecessor's work. Writing Catherine began writing poetry with her younger sister Eleanor at an early age, and it reflects their sadness about their mother's condition. Their poetry met with moderate success. Today it is seen as conventional for its time, relying heavily on many gothic and sentimental contrivances. In the mid-1850s, Catherine was encouraged to start writing again by her niece Sarah Ellis, already a successful novelist. In 1860 Warfield published anonymously as "A Southern Lady," The Household of Bouverie, a gothic fiction in 2 volumes. It achieved great popular success. The story tells of a young orphan who comes from England to live with her grandmother in America. The young woman encounters her grandfather Erastus Bouverie, long presumed dead, living in secret on the second floor. He has become a reclusive mad man attempting to create a youth-restoring potion. The story deals with their relationship, and the unfolding narrative of a dark and torrid family history. Warfield was praised as "Shakespearean," and a contemporary writer said, "Of living female authors, we can openly class Mrs. Warfield with George Sand and George Eliot." During the Civil War, Warfield supported the Confederacy through her poetry. Her poems were published in newspapers throughout the South. Several of these poems were included in a book published in 1867, Southern Poems of the War. Warfield also wrote the lyrics for a song celebrating the efforts of Confederate Colonel Mosby and his men, "You Can Never Win Us Back."Catherine Ann Warfield, Mississippi Writers & Musicians. Web, Feb. 8, 2019. After the war, Warfield published 8 more novels, all under her own name. The most popular were Ferne Fleming (1877) and its sequel The Cardinal’s Daughter (1877); however, no work gained the same degree of success as her earliest novel. Publications Poetry (with Eleanor Percy Lee) * The Wife of Leon, and other poems (by "Two Sisters of the West"). Cincinnati, OH: E. Morgan, 1843. **New York: D. Appleton / Philadelphia: G.S.Appleton, 1844.The Wife of Leon, and other poems (1844), Internet Archive. Web, Oct. 20, 2013. * The Indian Chamber, and other poems. New York: Derby & Jackson, 1846. Novels *''The Household of Bouverie; or, The elixir of gold'' (by "A Southern Lady"). New York: Derby & Jackson, 1860. *''The Romance of the Green Seal''. New York: Beadle, 1866. *''The Romance of Beauseincourt: An episode extracted from the retrospect of Miriam Monfort. New York: G.W. Carleton, 1867. *Miriam Monfort, A novel. New York: Appleton, 1873. *''A Double Wedding; or, How she won. Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson & Brothers, 1875. *''Hester Howard's Temptation: A soul's story. Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson & Brothers, 1875. *''Lady Ernestine, or, The absent lord of Rochefort. Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson & Brothers, 1875. *''Miriam’s Memoirs''. Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson & Brothers, 1876. *''Sea and Shore''. Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson & Brothers, 1876. *''The Cardinal’s Daughter''. Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson & Brothers, 1877. *''Ferne Fleming: A novel. Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson & Brothers, 1877. ''Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy University of Mississippi.Catherine Ann Warfield, Mississippi Writers Page, University of Mississippi. Web, Oct. 20, 2013. See also *List of U.S. poets References *Bertram Wyatt-Brown, The House of Percy: Honor, melancholy and imagination in a southern family. New York & Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1994. *Bertram Wyatt-Brown, The Literary Percys: Family history, gender, & the southern imagination. Athens, GA, & London: University of Georgia Press, 1994. Notes External links ;Poems *Catherine Ana Warfield 1816-1877 at the Poetry Foundation ;Books * ;About *Catherine Ann Warfield at Mississippi Writers & Musicians *Catherine Ann Warfield at the Mississippi Writers Page Category:People from Natchez, Mississippi Category:1816 births Category:1877 deaths Category:American novelists Category:American poets Category:Women writers from Kentucky Category:Women writers from Mississippi Category:19th-century poets Category:19th-century women writers Category:American women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Women poets